Aerial Combat

Aerial Combat Breakdown

Aerial Combat is one of the Day Battle intermediary phases. In this phase, allied and enemy fleets indirectly fight each other for aerial dominance and airstrike potential, granting either fleet some substantial advantages in the subsequent combat phases.

Aerial Combat has the following structure:

1. LBAS's Jet Assault
2. Fleet's Jet Assault
3. Land-Based Aerial Support
4. Stage 1 - Battle for Air Superiority
5. Stage 2 - Fleet Anti-Air Defense
6. Stage 3 - Airstrike

If an LBAS phase happens before the Aerial Combat phase, the enemy fleet state, such as plane slots and Fighter Power used for the subsequent Aerial Combat, is carried over. This can be used to tamper with the Enemy's Aerial Combat initial conditions.

• See LBAS for more details.

In case neither fleets meet the requirements, the sub-phase will be skipped.

Planes in combat phases
Plane type	Detection	Contact	Airpower	Opening airstrike	Day Cut-in	ASW
Fighters	❌	❌	✔️	❌	✔️	❌
Torpedo Bombers	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Dive Bombers	❌	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Jets	❌	❌	✔️	✔️	❌	❌
Carrier Recons	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	❌	❌
Recon Seaplane Recons	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	✔️	❌
Bomber Seaplane Bombers	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Seaplane Fighters	❌	❌	✔️	❌	❌	❌
Large Flying Boats	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	❌	✔️
Rotorcraft	❌	❌	✔️	❌	❌	✔️
Liaison Aircraft	❌	❌	✔️	❌	❌	✔️

Jet Assault Phase

Planes that participate in this phase:

• , "Jets" (turbojet propelled fighter-bombers)

If any carrier on either side is equipped with Jets, the "Jet Assault" (JA) Phase will commence first of all. The JA Phase may only commence during battles where Airstrikes can be performed. The JA follows the same rules as Stage 3.

The defending side is allowed to defend against the Jets following the same rules as Stage 2, however, Jets possess great Anti-Air Resistance, specifically during the JA, and enemy AACI cannot be triggered during this phase either.

Jets also take part in the regular Stage 3, but in exchange, they are subject to enemy Anti-Air prior to the JA, and again during Stage 2.

Steel Cost: every time the Jet Assault Phase is triggered, is automatically subtracted from the stockpile.

[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Jet Phase Cost} = \sum^{\text{All Jets}} \lceil \text{Plane}_\text{Count} \times \text{Steel Cost} \rceil }[/math]

• [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Plane}_\text{Count} }[/math] is the current plane count at the start of the battle.
• [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Steel Cost} }[/math] is the steel cost per plane.
  • Kikka Kai: 2.6
  • Jet Keiun Kai: 2.8

Stage 1 - Battle for Air Superiority

Green text at the bottom of the screen indicating an Air Supremacy result.

Planes that participate in this phase:

• Fighters:
  • / carrier-based,
  • seaplanes.
  • Hayabusa ASW Hayabusa
• Bombers
  • //// carrier-based,
  • Bomber seaplanes.

Following a possible Jet Phase, the fight for Air Supremacy will begin. The main objective of this phase is to define the Air State imposed on each fleet, by comparing each fleet's Air Power, more commonly referred to as Fighter Power (FP).

• The Air State achieved can be critical, especially to trigger certain mechanics like Artillery Spotting/CVCI, Contact, or Night Contact.

Fighter Power is defined by each plane equipped in the fleet that participates in this phase.

Fighter Power

[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Fighter Power} = \sum^{\text{All planes}} \left[ \left(\text{AA}_\text{Plane} \times \sqrt{\text{Plane}_\text{Count}} \right) + \text{Mod}_\text{proficiency} \right] }[/math] Where: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AA}_\text{Plane} }[/math] is the AA stat of the plane, including Improvements. Visible Bonuses are not counted. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Plane}_\text{Count} }[/math] is the number of planes in the slot prior to Stage 1's start. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{proficiency} }[/math] is the fighter-power proficiency bonus. For maxed proficiency ❱❱ planes it is: 25.464 for carrier-based Fighters, Seaplane Fighters, and Hayabusa ASW Hayabusa , 9.464 for Bomber Seaplane Bombers, 3.464 for all other planes. See Plane Proficiency for more details.

After Fighter Power is calculated for each fleet (FP and EFP for allied and enemy fleets, respectively), the values are compared, and Air State is determined, based on the following:

Air State	Fighter Power Range	Allied Planes Shot Down	Enemy Planes Shot Down	Airstrike Contact	Artillery Spotting	Night Contact
Air Supremacy (AS+) 制空権確保!	[math]\displaystyle{ \text{FP} \ge 3\text{EFP} }[/math]	3/120 - 7/120	0% - 100%	Allied Only	Allied Only	Allied Only
Air Superiority (AS) 航空優勢!	[math]\displaystyle{ 3\text{EFP} \gt \text{FP} \ge 1.5\text{EFP} }[/math]	9/120 - 21/120	0% - 80%	Allied & Enemy	Allied Only	Allied & Enemy
Air Parity (AP) No text	[math]\displaystyle{ 1.5\text{EFP} \gt \text{FP} \gt \frac{2}{3}\text{EFP} }[/math]	15/120 - 35/120	0% - 60%	Neither	Neither	Neither
Air Denial (AD) No text	[math]\displaystyle{ \frac{2}{3}\text{EFP} \ge \text{FP} \gt \frac{1}{3}\text{EFP} }[/math]	21/120 - 49/120	0% - 40%	Allied & Enemy	Enemy Only	Allied & Enemy
Air Incapability (AI) 制空権喪失!	[math]\displaystyle{ \frac{1}{3}\text{EFP} \ge \text{FP} }[/math]	30/120 - 70/120	0% - 10%	Enemy Only	Enemy Only	Enemy Only

After determining it, each fleet will lose a random number of planes across all slots based on the imposed Air State.

Proportional Air State Shootdown Formulas

For each slot of the Allied Fleet: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Plane Loss} = \left \lfloor \text{Plane}_\text{Count} \times \left( \text{random} \left[ 0 ; \frac{\text{Mod}_\text{Air State}}{3} \right] + \frac{\text{Mod}_\text{Air State}}{4} \right) \times 0.1 \times \text{Mod}_\text{Jet} \right \rfloor }[/math] For each slot of the Enemy Fleet: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Plane Loss} = \Big\lfloor \text{Plane}_\text{Count} \times \big( 0.035 \times \text{random} \left[ 0 ; \text{Mod}_\text{Air State} \right] + 0.065 \times \text{random} \left[ 0 ; \text{Mod}_\text{Air State} \right] \big) \Big\rfloor }[/math] Where: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Plane}_\text{Count} }[/math] is the plane's count in the slot. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Air State} }[/math] is the Air State modifier for each side, with: AS+: 1 AS: 3 AP: 5 AD: 7 AI: 10 [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Jet} }[/math] is 0.6 for Jets , 1 otherwise. The random function takes a random integer within the range in a linear distribution.

Notes

• Aircraft will be launched regardless of the carrier's state (except Sunk).
• The Air States between the allied and enemy fleets are mirrored. For example, attaining AS+ imposes AI to the enemy fleet.
• If both sides launch no planes, the Air State will be Air Parity.
• By solely using planes with no AA stat, an enemy fleet might start Air Supremacy Combat with 0 total Fighter Power.
  • In such case, the allied fleet will attain AS+ even if no planes are launched.

Stage 2 - Fleet Anti-Air Defense

Planes that participate in this phase:

• Bombers
  • //// carrier-based,
  • Bomber seaplanes.
  • Liaison Aircraft with Dive Bombing stat.

Following Stage 1, the Fleet AA Defense phase allows each fleet to reduce the incoming Airstrike damage by shooting down enemy planes.

• Each bomber is assigned to a random enemy ship.
  • Ships are picked regardless of damage state, ship class, and position in the fleet have no influence.
    • Even ships that cannot be targeted by airstrikes such as submarines can be chosen to defend against a given bomber.
    • Sunk ships cannot be chosen to defend, but sunk enemy ships can still activate Anti-Air Cut-in for the fleet
• When a ship defends against a bomber, it rolls two concurrent but independent events, each with 50% chance of success:
  • The first roll, denominated Proportional Shootdown, or Prop for short, reduces the slot size by a given % value.
  • The second roll, denominated Fixed Shootdown, or Fixed for short, reduces the slot size by a given X value.
  • There is therefore a chance of 25% to trigger both effects, 25% to trigger only Prop, 25% to trigger only Fixed, and 25% to trigger neither, for each bomber.
  • Player-side ships are also guaranteed to shoot down at least +1 plane in addition to this, see Anti-Air Cut-in for details.

Adjusted Anti-Air

Adjusted Anti-Air is a set of values derived from each ship and the entire fleet. For a single ship, this value Ship Adjusted AA applies weights on different pieces of equipment to further increase its effectiveness against enemy air threats. For the fleet, this value Fleet Adjusted AA has the objective of further increasing the influence of particularly high Anti-Air ships on either side by strengthening the entire fleet's air defense performance.

Adjusted Anti-Air Formulas

Allied Fleet: Ship Adjusted AA of each ship is defined by: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AdjAA}_\text{ship} = \text{AA}_\text{ship} + \sum^{\text{All Equip}} \left( \text{AA}_\text{Equip} \times \text{Mod}_\text{Equip-Ship} + \text{AA}_\text{★-Equip} \right) }[/math] Then, if ship has any equipment equipped: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AdjAA}_\text{ship} = 2 \times \bigg\lfloor\frac{\text{AdjAA}_\text{ship}}{2}\bigg\rfloor }[/math] (rounded down to the nearest multiple of 2) Fleet Adjusted AA is defined by: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AdjAA}_\text{fleet} = \frac{2}{1.3} \times \Bigg\lfloor \text{Mod}_\text{Formation} \times \sum^{\text{All Ships}} \bigg\lfloor \sum^{\text{All equip}} ( \text{AA}_\text{Equip} \times \text{Mod}_\text{Equip-Fleet} + \text{AA}_\text{★-Fleet} ) \bigg\rfloor \Bigg\rfloor }[/math] Enemy Fleet Ship Adjusted AA of each ship is defined by: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AdjAA}_\text{enemy ship} = 2 \times \Bigg\lfloor \sqrt{\text{AA}_\text{ship} + \sum^{\text{All Equip}} \text{AA}_\text{Equip}} \Bigg\rfloor + \sum^{\text{All Equip}} ( \text{AA}_\text{Equip} \times \text{Mod}_\text{Equip-Ship} ) }[/math] Then: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AdjAA}_\text{enemy ship} = 2 \times \bigg\lfloor\frac{\text{AdjAA}_\text{enemy ship}}{2}\bigg\rfloor }[/math] (rounded down to the nearest multiple of 2) Fleet Adjusted AA is defined by: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AdjAA}_\text{enemy fleet} = 2 \times \Bigg\lfloor \text{Mod}_\text{Formation} \times \sum^{\text{All Ships}} \bigg\lfloor \sum^{\text{All Equip}} ( \text{AA}_\text{Equip} \times \text{Mod}_\text{Equip-Fleet} ) \bigg\rfloor \Bigg\rfloor }[/math] With: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AA}_\text{ship} }[/math] the base AA stat of the ship. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AA}_\text{Equip} }[/math] the AA stat of the equipment Visible bonuses are included to some extent, but actual amount is unconfirmed [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AA}_\text{★-Equip} }[/math] the "equipment" AA stat gained from Improvements. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AA}_\text{★-Fleet} }[/math] the "fleet" AA stat gained from Improvements. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Formation} }[/math] the Formation modifier. See Combat for more details. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Equip-XX} }[/math] the equipment type modifier, with each value used in their respective formulas: Equipment Type [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Equip-Ship} }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Equip-Fleet} }[/math] High-Angle Guns, AAFD 4 0.35 Air Air Radars 3 0.4 AA Shells 0 0.6 46cm Triple Gun Mount 0 0.25 AA Guns 6 0.2 All other equipment 0 Other Abyssal AA Equipment Including CIC, HA Single-Guns 0

Proportional and Fixed shootdowns

• Ship Adjusted AA is used to calculate Proportional shootdown.
• Ship Adjusted AA and Fleet Adjusted AA are used to calculate Fixed shootdown.

Prop/Fixed Shootdown Formulas

Allied Fleet's ship: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Prop}= \left \lfloor \frac{\lfloor\text{AdjAA}_\text{ship} \times \text{AAR}_\text{ship}\rfloor \times \text{Mod}_\text{CF}}{400} \times \text{Plane}_\text{Count} \right \rfloor }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Fixed}= \left \lfloor \frac{ \left( \lfloor \text{AdjAA}_\text{ship} \times \text{AAR}_\text{ship} \rfloor + \lfloor \text{AdjAA}_\text{fleet} \times \text{AAR}_\text{fleet} \rfloor \right) \times \text{Mod}_\text{CF} \times \text{K}_\text{value}}{10} \right \rfloor }[/math] Enemy Fleet's ship: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Prop}= \left \lfloor \frac{\lfloor\text{AdjAA}_\text{enemy ship} \times \text{AAR}_\text{ship}\rfloor \times \text{Mod}_\text{CF}}{400} \times \text{Plane}_\text{Count} \right \rfloor }[/math] [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Fixed}= \Bigg\lfloor \frac{ \left( \lfloor \text{AdjAA}_\text{enemy ship} \times \text{AAR}_\text{ship} \rfloor + \lfloor \text{AdjAA}_\text{enemy fleet} \times \text{AAR}_\text{fleet} \rfloor \right) \times \text{Mod}_\text{CF} \times \text{K}_\text{value} \times 0.75 }{8} \Bigg\rfloor }[/math] With: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AdjAA}_\text{xx} }[/math] the previously calculated Adjusted Anti-Air. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Plane}_\text{Count} }[/math] the current number of attacking planes. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{CF} }[/math] the Combined Fleet modifier, being: 1 in Single Fleets 0.8 if the ship is in a CF's main fleet on Surface Nodes 0.72 if the ship is in a CF's main fleet on Air Raid Nodes 0.48 if the ship is in a CF's escort fleet [math]\displaystyle{ \text{K}_\text{value} }[/math] the Anti Air Cut-in (AACI) multiplier. 1 if no AACI triggers See K-value column of AACI Patterns for values. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AAR}_\text{ship} }[/math] the attacking plane's Ship AA Resist. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AAR}_\text{fleet} }[/math] the attacking plane's Fleet AA Resist.

Guaranteed Shootdown Formula

[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Guaranteed}= \lfloor \text{AACI}_\text{shotA} \times \text{AAR}_\text{AACI} \rfloor + \text{AACI}_\text{shotB} }[/math] With: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AAR}_\text{AACI} }[/math] the attacking plane's AACI Resist. Value is suspected to be equal to [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AAR}_\text{ship} }[/math], but not confirmed for all planes. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AACI}_\text{shotA} }[/math] and [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AACI}_\text{shotB} }[/math] are Anti Air Cut-in (AACI) Shot-down values See Shot down per slot column of AACI Patterns for values in tooltips. Player fleet uses [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AACI}_\text{shotA} = 1 }[/math], [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AACI}_\text{shotB} = 0 }[/math] if no AACI triggered Enemy fleet uses [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AACI}_\text{shotA} = 0 }[/math], [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AACI}_\text{shotB} = 0 }[/math] if no AACI triggered Values for API values after 13 are unconfirmed

Anti-Air Resistance

Specific planes, in particular skilled variants, remarkable aces or state-of-the-art aircraft may present a special AA resistance property. AA resistance is presented in form of "Ship AA Resistance/Fleet AA Resistance", with each value being used in the respective above formulas.

This property is arbitrary to each aircraft, but loosely fit in the following categories:

• Extremely high resistance: Aircraft that presents a resistance of 0.5/0.5
• High resistance: Aircraft that presents a resistance of 0.5/0.7
• Average resistance: Aircraft that presents a resistance of 0.6/0.7
• Low resistance: Aircraft that presents a resistance of 0.6/1.0

Anti-Air Cut-in

Akizuki performing the ID 1 AACI.

Using special equipment setups, ships may perform one of multiple special Anti-Ait Cut-In mostly referred to as AACI, during Stage 2.

AACI types

• Each AACI is defined by its "ID" (its API value), and is arbitrary (see the below table).
  • They are then mostly referred to by their "ID".
  • Some older AACI may be referred to by their abbreviation, such as BBR for AACI 5.
• For all AACI, the "ID" therefore fully determines:
  • The setup of the AACI and the ships able to trigger it,
  • The "Trigger Rate" and the "Priority Order",
  • The "K-value" and "shot down per slot" value,

AACI effects

• Grant a multiplier to the "Fixed Shootdown" of all allied ships, referred to as the K-value, regardless of what ship triggers it,
• Remove a fixed number of planes from each enemy bomber slot ("shot down per slot").

These effects make depleting the entirety of enemy planes much more feasible.

AACI triggering

• Only one AACI can be performed per battle,
  • On "Aerial Combat Nodes", AACI can be triggered twice, one per phase.
• Only a ship equipped with proper AACI setups can trigger one (see the below table),
• If multiple ships are equipped with AACI setups, each ship will roll their available AACI in ID's "Priority Order" (see the below table).
  • If IDs are tied, priority goes by fleet order from top to bottom.
  • Thus, for a given fleet & setup, some ships will take priority over others always the same way.
  • If one ship fulfills the requirement for multiple setups at once, then it will be able to roll each individual AACI in ID's "Priority Order".
• The trigger rate is unaffected by Stats like the damage status, Fleet AA, Ship AA, Adjusted AA, Air State, or any other parameter like Luck and LoS.

• It is possible for all AACI rolls in a fleet to fail, triggering no AACI.
• If the enemy fleet has a valid setup, it may as well activate an AACI. If that happens, no animation will be shown, but the effects will function normally.
  • It can activate during the regular airstrike phase, but not during other phases like the Jet Assaults, LBAS phases, OASW, or Shelling phases.
  • There is a bug that allows enemy ships to activate AACI even if they were sunk.

For the following table:

• is used to indicate any Large Caliber Main Gun
• is used to indicate any High-Angle Gun (dual-purpose guns/HA guns), including Main HA Guns and Secondary HA Guns,
• is used to indicate any AA Gun,
• is used to indicate any AA Fire Directors
  ,
• is used to indicate any AA Shell
• is used to indicate any Radar, including Surface Radars,
• Air is used to indicate an Air Radar (any Radar with AA stat of 2 or higher).

Do note that some setups also required a maximal or minimal base AA stat for the equipment to be counted.

• This exclude any stat gained from Fit Bonuses or Improvement.

AACI Patterns
ID	Priority Order	Setup	Shot down per slot	K-value	Rate	Users
None		Triggers if no other AACI is activated	+1A = 1, B = 0	1.0	N/A	Player's fleet only
1	11		+8A = 3, B = 5	1.7	65%	Akizuki-class
2	16		+7A = 3, B = 4	1.7	58%
3	26		+5A = 2, B = 3	1.6	50%
4	15	Air	+7A = 5, B = 2	1.5	52%	All
5	27	8+ AA 8+ AA Air	+5A = 2, B = 3	1.5	55%	All (except Akizuki-class)
6	28		+5A = 4, B = 1	1.45	40%	All
7	36	Air	+4A = 2, B = 2	1.35	45%	All (except Akizuki-class)
8	33	8+ AA Air	+5A = 2, B = 3	1.4	50%
9	45		+3A = 1, B = 2	1.3	40%	All
10	6	9+ AA Air	+9A = 3, B = 6	1.65	60%	Maya Kai Ni
11	9	9+ AA	+7A = 2, B = 5	1.5	55%
12	40	9+ AA 3+ AA Air	+4A = 1, B = 3	1.25	45%	All
13	34	8+ AA 9+ AA Air	+5A = 1, B = 4	1.35	35%	All (except Maya Kai Ni)
14	25	Air	+5	1.45	62%	Isuzu Kai Ni'
15	35		+4	1.3	55%
16	24	Air	+5	1.4	62%	Kasumi Kai Ni B & Yuubari Kai Ni (not Toku/D )
17	42		+3	1.25	55%	Kasumi Kai Ni B
18	43	9+ AA	+3	1.2	60%	Satsuki Kai Ni
19	21	7- AA 9+ AA	+6	1.45	58%	Kinu Kai Ni
20	37	9+ AA	+4	1.25	65%
21	22	Air	+6	1.45	60%	Yura Kai Ni
22	44	9+ AA	+3	1.2	60%	Fumizuki Kai Ni
23	46	3~8 AA	+2	1.05	80%	UIT-25/I-504
24	38	3~8 AA	+4	1.25	40%	Tenryuu-class Kai Ni
25	10	Air	+8	1.55	60%	Ise-class Kai/Ni
26	14	Air	+7	1.4	55%	Yamato-class Kai Ni
27	19	Air	+6	1.55	55%	Ooyodo Kai
28	29	Air	+5	1.4	55%	Ise-class Kai/Ni & Musashi Kai/Ni
29	23	Air	+6	1.55	60%	Hamakaze B Kai & Isokaze B Kai
30	32		+4	1.3	45%	Tenryuu Kai Ni & Gotland Kai/Andra
31	41		+3	1.2	52%	Tenryuu Kai Ni
32	39	OR OR	+4	1.2	50%	Royal Navy Ships & Kongou-class Kai Ni/B/C
33	31	4+ AA	+4	1.35	45%	Gotland Kai/Andra
34	12		+8	1.6	55%	Fletcher-class
35	17	OR	+7	1.55	55%
36	18	OR OR	+7	1.55	50%
37	30		+5	1.45	40%
38	1		+11	1.85	57%	Atlanta-class
39	2		+11	1.7	57%
40	3	OR OR	+11	1.7	56%
41	5	OR OR	+10	1.65	55%
42	4	Sp 6+ AA	+11	1.65	64%	Yamato-class Kai Ni
43	7	Sp	+9	1.6	59%
44	13	Sp 6+ AA	+7	1.6	54%
45	20	Sp	+6	1.55	40%
46	8	9+ AA Air OR 9+ AA Air	+8	1.55	50%	Haruna Kai Ni B

Examples

• Akizuki with 8+ AA8+ AAAir fulfills the requirements of the AACIs 1, 2, 3, 13 (in this order).
  • The resulting trigger rate is 95.22%.

• Fletcher with fulfills the requirements of the AACIs 34, 35, 8, 9 (in this order).
  • The resulting trigger rate is 93.93%.

• Musashi with Sp fulfills the requirements of the AACIs 42, 43, 44, 45, 5, 28, 8, 13 (in this order).
  • The resulting trigger rate is 99.73%.

• Isokaze B Kai with 8+ AA8+ AAAir fulfills the requirements of the AACIs 29, 5, 8, 13 (in this order).
  • The resulting trigger rate is 94.15%.

Sequential AACIs

The Sequential AACIs were the AACIs introduced with the implementation of Johnston, allowing to a single ship to roll multiple AACI IDs at once, greatly increasing the trigger rate. Since the 26/05/2023 update, this mechanic is defunct, being available to all ships.

• See here for more details.

Main Sources: [8] [9]

• Old sources: [10] [11] [12]

Stage 3 - Airstrike

Planes that participate in this phase:

• Reconnaissance Seaplanes
• Carrier-based Reconnaissance Aircraft
• Carrier-based Bombers
• Seaplane Bombers
• Liaison Aircraft with Dive Bombing stat.

With both preliminary phases executed, the final Aerial Combat Stage, Airstrike, is performed. In this phase, each bomber from the Allied Fleet and Enemy Fleet that still possess a slot size higher than 0 selects a ship to attack. The attack target is randomly picked following the same rules as Shelling target selection. The targeted ship is not necessarily the ship that has defended against said bomber during Stage 2.

See Damage Calculations for details on airstrike damage.

Notes

• Each bomber is assigned to a single ship and performs exactly one attack. The same ship may be selected to be attacked by multiple different bombers.
• The attack is unaffected by the battle's Engagement and the Fleet's Formation, as well as the Carrier's morale and damage state.
• Submarines are untargetable by Airstrike

Contact

Tenzan Model 12 (Murata Squadron) performing Contact against the Enemy Fleet.

Contact is a special mechanic that increases the damage of all bombers participating in the Airstrike Phase. Specifically, it may be triggered during Stage 1, but has no effects until Stage 3. When successful, the Squadron performing Contact will be shown on top of the opposing fleet's "Radar", together with the text Making contact! (触接中!, shokusetsu-chū!).

• Contact may be triggered only under AS+, AS, and AD. It cannot trigger under AP and AI.
• At least one Carrier Recon, / Torpedo Bomber, Recon/ Seaplane Recon, or Large Flying Boat must be present.
  • Bomber Seaplane Bombers cannot perform contact.

Step 1: Contact Trigger

This step determines if any contact can trigger at all. Each plane that can perform Contact except / Torpedo Bombers contributes an independent trigger rate based on the plane's LoS stat and slot size. The Final Trigger Rate is determined using the sum of all independent trigger rates, and is also affected by Air State.

• If only / Torpedo Bombers are present, there is still a very small chance Contact Trigger can succeed.

Contact Trigger Rate Formula

[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Contact Rate}= \frac{1 + \sum^{\text{All Planes}} \left( \lfloor \sqrt{\text{Plane}_\text{Count}} \times \text{LoS}_\text{Plane} \rfloor \right)} {\text{Mod}_\text{Air State}} }[/math] Where: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{All Planes} }[/math] refer only to all planes that can perform Contact (/Recon//) except Torpedo Bombers (/). [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Plane}_\text{Count} }[/math] is the current plane's slot size. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{LoS}_\text{Plane} }[/math] is the plane's displayed LoS stat. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Air State} }[/math] is the Air State modifier. AS+: 25 AS: 40 AD: 55

A single roll is performed using the Final Trigger Rate. If successful, Contact advances to Step 2.

Step 2: Aircraft Selection

After a successful Step 1, each plane will roll a Selection rate to be allowed to perform contact. The rolls are performed for each plane independently following a set priority, from highest to lowest. The priority for Aircraft Selection is:

• Accuracy stat, starting from highest.
• The Carrier's position in the fleet, starting from Flagship.
• The Equipment slot position, starting from the first.

Aircraft Selection Formula

[math]\displaystyle{ \text{Selection Rate}= \frac{\text{LoS}_\text{Plane}} {\text{Mod}_\text{Air State}} }[/math] Where: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Selection Rate} }[/math] applies only to planes that can perform Contact (//Recon//). [math]\displaystyle{ \text{LoS}_\text{Plane} }[/math] is the plane's displayed LoS stat. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Air State} }[/math] is the Air State modifier. AS+: 14 AS: 16 AD: 18

The first Squadron that succeeds to be selected will perform Contact. If all planes fail to be selected, Contact will not trigger, even if Step 1 was successful.

If successful, then Contact will grant an additional damage multiplier based on the selected aircraft's stat.

Accuracy	Damage Modifier
0	112%
1	112%
2	117%
3+	120%

Anti-Air Rocket Barrage

Certain ship types have the ability to trigger an "Anti-Air Rocket Barrage" (AARB), completely negating any airstrike damage.

• The only ships types able to trigger this mechanic are:
  • BBV, CV, CVB, CVL, CAV, and AV.
• The ship must be equipped with a 12cm 30-tube Rocket Launcher Kai Ni.
  • It is often referred to as "RLK2" or "Rosa Kai Ni" for short.

AARB Trigger Rate Formula

The trigger rate for a given ship is: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AARB %} = 100 \times \frac{\text{AdjAA}_\text{ship} + {0.9} \times \text{Luck}}{400 - \left( 40 \times \text{N}_\text{rocket} + \text{AdjAA}_\text{RLK2} + 30 + \text{Mod}_\text{Ise-class} \right)} }[/math] With: [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AdjAA}_\text{ship} }[/math] the previously calculated Adjusted AA of the ship. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Luck} }[/math] the ship's Luck stat. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{N}_\text{rocket} }[/math] the number of RLK2 equipped on the ship. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{AdjAA}_\text{RLK2} }[/math] the Adjusted AA of the RLK2, being 48[math]\displaystyle{ \text{8} \times \text{6} }[/math]. [math]\displaystyle{ \text{Mod}_\text{Ise-class} }[/math] being 70 if the ship is an Ise-class, 0 otherwise.

Ise triggers AARB, while Choukai triggers a AA Shell barrage, during the Airstrike Stage.

If the AARB triggers on a ship, the ship will slide forward, and Rocket Barrage Successful (噴進弾幕成功, funshindan maku seikō) will be displayed over its card.

• If the ship does not take any damage during the airstrike, the same animation will also be played, even if the AARB failed to trigger or the ship was not targeted by any bomber.
• Generally when a ship is targeted by any bomber and takes no damage, the text "miss" will be displayed over the ship's card, but if the AARB actually triggered, nothing will be displayed instead.

Notes

• It is possible to achieve more than 100% activation rate.
• There is another anti-air barrage animation in-game for only AA Shells. No effects were found for it.
  • The combination of a AA Shells and the RLK2 is also supposed to have extra effects. No effects were found for it.
  • The uselessness/cosmetic-only role of AA Shells in this mechanic might be an historical reference to the real T3 shells, being extremely ineffective in their AA role, and being compared to simple "fireworks".